In South Australia the Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) is usually found in the south-east, although it does extend to parts of Adelaide and the Hills. However it is common in Victoria and eastern New South Wales and south-east Queensland. Also known as the Rosehill Parakeet and Rosy it nests in a hole in a tree, stump or fence-post. See also Crimson rosella and Adelaide rosella.

Distinguished British zoologist and ornithologist John Gould and his wife Elizabeth (nee Coxon), also an accomplished naturalist and illustrator voyaged with their children to Australia in 1838 on the Parsee (ship), landing in Tasmania. Gould visited New South Wales, spent several weeks exploring the Murray scrubs in South Australia, mainly in the company of Charles Sturt, and also visited Kangaroo Island. Adelaide did not impress him: it was then (1839) merely 'a chaotic jumble of sheds and mud huts'. Returning to Hobart, he went to New South Wales with his wife and two children, another son having been born in the meantime. The Gould party left Sydney on 9 April 1840, and publication of The Birds of Australia began in London on 1 December 1840. The final parts, making a total of thirty-six, appeared in 1848. They were bound in seven volumes and the cost to subscribers was 115 (A. H. Chisholm, 'Gould, John (1804 - 1881)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp 465-467).

Rosellas were often mentioned by South Australian settlers in documents from the The Foundation of South Australia, 1800-1851.

Shaw, George, 1751-1813

Sowerby, James, 1757-1822

Cayley, Neville W. What bird is that?, Dingley, Vic. : Redwood Editions, 2000

Gould, John. The Birds of Australia. London: Published by the author, 1848 (London: Printed by Richard and John E. Taylor)

Andre, Roger. 'Friends-funded artworks', Bibliofile vol. 10, no. 4, August 2002

'Gould commemorative issue', Emu, October 1938.

Hankel, Valmai. 'Our very special wrens', Friends of the State Library Newsletter no.1, August 1996

Shaw, George, Zoology of New Holland ; the figures by James Sowerby; introduction by Valmai Hankel and Ed McAlister Adelaide: Friends of the State Library of South Australia, 1998

Birds of Australia catalgue record

State Library of South Australia, Exhibitions, Treasures Wall

National Library of Australia. Birds! A bird in the hand